Tesla Just Announced The Latest Model 3 Production Delay

Remember when Elon Musk said Tesla would be making 20,000 Model 3s a month by December 2017? Now we’re into January, we can report that Tesla fell a little short - it made just 1550. In the entire fourth quarter of last year.

Tesla’s revised timeline issued in November targeted 5000 cars a week by the end of Q1 2018, but that’s not going to happen either. Instead, the firm is now saying it’ll be making 2500 Model 3s a week by the end of this quarter, hitting the 5000 mark by the end of Q2.

In a statement, the company said:

“As we continue to focus on quality and efficiency rather than simply pushing for the highest possible volume in the shortest period of time, we expect to have a slightly more gradual ramp through Q1.”

2017 was a troubled year for Tesla, during which time it posted its biggest ever loss, and at one point was reported to be spending $8000 a minute. Persistent “bottlenecks” have hampered progress on building Model 3 orders, with CEO Musk describing the car as being in “production hell.”

Time will tell if these new targets are hit, but whatever happens, most of the 400,000 or so people on the waiting list won’t be seeing their cars any time soon.